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Title: Refuge Alternatives for Underground Coal Mines; Limited Reopening of the Record

Abstract: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit remanded a training provision in the Refuge Alternatives Final Rule, directing Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to explain the basis for requiring motor task (hands-on), decision-making, and expectations training annually rather than quarterly, or to reopen the record, and allow public comment.
MSHA is reopening the rulemaking record for its Refuge Alternatives Final Rule for the limited purpose of obtaining comments on the frequency for motor task (also known as "hands-on" training), decision-making, and expectations training for miners to deploy and use refuge alternatives in underground coal mines. MSHA will review the comments to determine an appropriate course of action for the Agency in response to comments. MSHA will publish its response in the Federal Register addressing the public comments and either explaining the reason that it is leaving the final rule unchanged or modifying the final rule as the result of the public comment process.